The Dig
by rjCalifornia
Summary: Bella, Alice, & Rose are looking for an archaeological dig site when they meet the Cullen boys. On a small island off the coast of Maine, 6 people will come together to uncover history. They didn't know that this island holds a secret… Funny ExB
1. The Faux Indiana Jones

******Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, or any of its' characters.**

**BPOV**

As I looked around the large auditorium filled with people gathering for the conference, I couldn't help but laugh. Maybe it was the lady seated three rows ahead of me dressed head-to-toe in various tribal clothing, or the majority of men sporting gray tweed business suits with suede elbow patches, or quite possibly the adventurous soul who had the balls to dress as Indiana Jones. Most likely it was a combination of three at once that pushed me further over the edge, causing me to hide my face in my shirt to stifle the laughter.

"What's so funny there Chuckles?" I heard the high-pitched voice of my pixie best friend ask.

"Huh? Oh, well I was just taking in our surroundings," I tried to whisper quietly, but failed miserably as my voice broke with laughter. I had always been a loud laugher. No matter how hard I try to laugh at a socially acceptable decibel, the sound still bursts forth and I am unable to stop. In fact, one boy I dated back in high school refused to go to comedies with me because I embarrassed him with my boisterous laugh. What a boob that guy was. I mean, it's not an annoying laugh, just a little loud.

"You know," I observed, "we're not the coolest people as a group."

At this point Alice looked around and spotted the Indiana Jones man and laughed.

"That is so true," she replied. "But what did you expect from a bunch of archaeologists, Bella?"

"Good point."

At this point, I was tired of sitting and watching the slides projected on the screen showing the remains of a feline skull found in North Dakota. Seriously, who's idea was it to show pictures of dead, domesticated cats?

"Why don't we go find Rosalie and check out some of the other venues around here? I'm done with this." I was hoping Alice was done with this too, because I was bored out of my mind. Luckily, she nodded eagerly and we left quietly and began walking downstairs to the main floor of the convention center.

"Look, there's Rose." Alice spotted Rosalie looking at one of the booths offering information about a dig in Cairo over the summer.

Alice got to Rosalie first and pinched her on her side to get her attention while saying, "What's up Goldie Locks?" Rosalie jumped, startled, but then laughed.

"Not much Pixie Dust. You guys are already done with that presentation about that Native American tribe in North Dakota?" she asked while arching an eyebrow.

"Ugh," I groaned. "It was not what I thought it was going to be. The doofus up on the stage just showed us a bunch of pictures of bones from all these small animals. He didn't even talk about the tribe itself! So we decided to bail out and find you."

Rose chuckled. "Alright, well let's go grab something to eat. I'm starving."

The three of us walked down the streets of San Jose, looking for someplace to eat near the convention center. It's hard to believe that we are nearly done with school and about to start getting our feet wet in our field of archaeology. The three of us are all in our last semester at Sacramento State. While at school, a teacher of ours recommended getting some field experience in before committing to pursuing our Masters degrees. So that's what we're doing. We're at an archaeology conference in San Jose making contacts and scoping out digs that we might be interested in for the summer.

Alice, Rosalie, and I met freshmen year at orientation and haven't separated since. Alice and I were roommates, but Rosalie spent most of her time in our room since her roommate, Jessica, was the most annoying gossip on earth. I think Jessica was just intimidated by Rosalie, which is not hard to believe considering Rosalie is stunningly beautiful. At 5'10, and thin but with beautiful curves, long blonde hair, and striking blue eyes, she could get any man she seeks out. She also doesn't take crap from anyone, and sticks up for her friends.

Alice on the other hand is around 5 feet with cropped brown hair and hazel eyes. She's so petite that we call her our "pixie". But she is most definitely the most beautiful pixie I've ever seen. Alice is also fiercely loyal to people, as well as being a shopaholic and a bundle of energy.

All of the sudden I noticed something on the ground that I was about to trip over. Out of instinct I tried to stop, but my body's momentum kept pushing me forward, causing my toe to catch on the asphalt anyway. With an "Ugh…crap!" I tumbled to the ground, my shoulder taking the brunt of the fall. It was silent for a moment before I heard the loud guffaws of my friends.

"What the heck was that, Bella?" Rose got out between laughing fits.

As I stood from the ground, I looked around me to see what caused the great tumble, only to see nothing. While looking down at the ground, realization of what caused the fall set in. Apparently Alice came to the same conclusion, because the next thing I know I heard her voice burst through her giggles.

"Oh my God! You just tripped over the painted lines!"

Sure enough, the thing that caught my attention was the painted lines in the parking lot.

"Wow. I am such a struggler," I said while trying to keep a straight face. But as soon as I made eye contact with Alice I couldn't hold it in any longer. The three of us glanced at the ground, and then absolutely cracked up.

After a few minutes I noticed people where looking at us like we were crazy. This one lady shot me the dirtiest look while walking by.

Rose noticed the hate glares being sent our way. "Jeez," she spoke. "What in the world is that chick's deal?"

"I know!" I said to Rose a little too loudly. "We're not crazy, just really intense laughers. It's not like Alice was professing her undying love for Aladdin again, or you were hiding from the 'scary clown-like' bushes," I said using finger quotes.

"Hey!" Alice defended. "Have you not _seen _Aladdin? That guy is totally smooth. He's got the whole 'total bad boy with a heart of gold' thing going on. And any man who is able to have a monkey as a best friend and _not _look crazy is definitely my kind of people."

"We know Alice," I said trying to jump in before she went on her spiel about how he was the perfect blend of cockiness and humility.

"You know," Rosalie started with a haughty look on her face, "I don't appreciate you belittling my fear of bushes, especially the ones that resemble clowns. What if there was some creeper hiding in there waiting to pounce on me? Huh? Did you ever think about that?!"

I was trying so hard not to laugh but when Rosalie kept going on about the bushes I couldn't control myself.

"You know, the fact that the bush looks like a clown would work in the creeper's favor too. Because Creeper would assume that when his victims come across the bush they'd get distracted and be all 'Wow, this bush looks just like a clown!' and then _BAM_, Creeper comes bursting through the shrubs."

What made that statement infinitely better was the fact that when Rosalie talked about bursting through the shrubs, she actually used her arms and jumped outward, as if to give us a visual of how it would go down.

"You're right Rose. What was I thinking? Clearly, bushes pose a serious threat to all, especially those easily distracted by clown-like greenery." I stated in a mock serious tone.

Rosalie narrowed her eyes at me, but eventually her features softened and she cracked a smile. "Well at least I don't have an irrational fear of _Triscuit_s!" she threw in my direction.

"What? Some of those edges are _really _sharp, okay?" I argued while pointing to my mouth.

The three of us continued snickering while walking towards the Quizno's across the parking lot to get some sandwiches. The guy working the register kept raising his unibrow at us in a "come hither" kind of way. Alice's face was priceless. She looked liked she'd just witnessed Michael Moore give Bill O' Reilly a lap dance. Confused and disgusted, but just couldn't look away.

When we got our food from the wannabe seductive unibrow man Alice whispered, "If ever there was going to be a Creeper who hides behind clown-like bushes, that would be the dude!"

The mental image that came to me from that statement put me in hysterics. Mainly, because it was so true. I could totally see our Quizno's guy hiding behind bushes, hoping to lure young women in with his untamed unibrow.

Wow. Maybe we _are _crazy.

After eating, we decided to head back to the convention center and continue our perusal of the various digs offered over the summer.

"Oh my God," shrieked Alice. "Greece! Freakin' Greece!"

Rosalie and I followed in her direction to check out the dig in Greece, where I noticed the guy who had dressed up as Indiana Jones was also lurking.

"Did you have any questions about the Delphi site?" a cheery female voice asked me. I turned to face an attractive young woman with strawberry blonde hair and a genuine smile.

"Oh, actually yes. My friends and me are interested in finding a dig site to work on for the summer. Are you part of the team working in Delphi?" I asked while taking the pamphlet she handed me.

"Yes I am. My name's Tanya. I've been working in Greece for the last 13 months. My husband and I head up the team. It's absolutely beautiful there, and the site is so rich with history. We have a few spots open that you can apply for. Are you or your friends majoring in Mediterranean Archaeology?"

"Um no," I replied sheepishly. "We're all Anthropology majors specializing in Archaeology. Is that a problem?"

"Oh no. Not at all," she said eagerly. "But it does help your application if you happen to be specializing in the field of study surrounding the dig site. This is a highly sought after dig because of its location, so having an advantage to tip the scales in your favor always helps."

I nodded and then continued looking through the pamphlet as Tanya left to answer some other people's questions.

Greece would be such an amazing adventure. Not only because it is breathtakingly beautiful there, but also because the oracle of Delphi has always intrigued me. But the dig was for 6 months, and what we were looking for would be around 2 or 3 months.

Rosalie, Alice and I looked through the pamphlet and pointed out interesting facts. I noticed Rosalie kept shooting disapproving looks at Indiana Jones man before she started to speak.

"You know, some people are just an embarrassment to our profession. I mean seriously, look at that guy! People like him are the reason why every time I tell someone what I'm going to school for, they always assume I'm just a die-hard Indiana Jones fan and don't take me seriously."

I noticed that during Rose's little rant, the guy dressed as Indiana Jones turned to look at us with a raised eyebrow. Obviously I wasn't the only one to notice because Rose established eye contact with him and then spoke louder.

"That's right, I'm talking about you, dill-hole. You look like a fool."

Indiana Jones man broke into a huge grin, and only then did I notice how attractive he was. He was clearly over 6 feet tall and was totally ripped. He definitely looked like an ex-football player or wrestler or something. When he smiled, I spotted cute little dimples on his rugged face. He began walking toward us and removed his hat, revealing curly, dark brown hair. Rosalie looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Crap! Now he's coming over here!" she whisper yelled at us.

Alice rolled her eyes at Rosalie. "Well, what did you expect Rose? You just randomly called him a foolish dill-hole."

"Well, he _is _a foolish dill-hole," she said with determination. "I stand by my comment."

And this is why I didn't take Rose to the 49ers game versus the Oakland Raiders. She has absolutely no filter and Raiders fans get crazy. Knowing her, she'd probably start antagonizing the other team and then we'd both get shanked. No thank you. I strive to live a shank-free life.

"Hmm. So apparently there's some anti-Indiana Jones people in the house," I heard a deep male voice say.

Rosalie turned to him annoyed, "I am not anti-Indiana Jones. In fact, I currently remain unaffiliated."

Indiana Jones man laughed and stuck out his hand. "Hi. I'm Emmett Cullen."

"Rosalie Hale," she said as she grasped his hand in hers. He then turned to look at Alice and me, waiting for us to offer our names.

Alice bounced forward and grabbed his hat. "Wow! This is _just _like Indy's hat! How weird! Oh, I'm Alice by the way."

"And I'm Bella."

Emmett chuckled as he pried his hat out of Alice's grip. "So, are you guys thinking about going on the Delphi dig?" he asked while motioning with his head to the information table we were standing in front of.

"Well," I offered, "it looks really interesting, but the dig's for 6 months. We want to go on a site just for the summer, just to get a taste of the work we'll be doing after we finish the graduate program."

Emmett nodded. "Yeah, it's the same for me and my 2 younger brothers. We're all Archaeology majors at the University of Washington and we're looking for some summer digs."

"Wait," Alice interrupted, "you're _all _archaeology majors? Isn't that a little odd for a sibling trio to pick the same thing?"

"Well, with a dad like Carlisle, we were all destined to get the itch to play in the dirt," Emmett replied with a smirk.

Something caught my attention. "Hold up. Did you say Carlisle was your dad? As in _the _Carlisle Cullen?" I asked with a hint of wonder in my voice.

Emmett's smirk grew more pronounced as he nodded to my question.

Alice was the first to flip. "Oh my God! Is he here with you somewhere?!" she shrieked while pulling out a compact mirror to check her make-up. Rosalie started fluffing her hair and adjusting her shirt so it better complimented her figure, while I just stood with my mouth hanging open.

"Jeez Emmett. Do you have to drop Dad's name to get attention from every female here?" said a smooth voice from behind me. I whipped around and came face to face with a pair of mischievous, sparkling green eyes.

_Holy heart failure, Batman!_

* * *

**AN: This is my first fanfic. Let me know what you think :)**

**Oh, and on a side note. Most of the story will be in Bella's POV, but you will see others' as well**

**So I must ask... Epic Fail?**

**-rj**


	2. Will You Be My Maine Man?

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, or any of it's' characters.**

**BPOV**

I was stunned. Absolutely, completely, embarrassingly stunned. The weird thing was, I couldn't figure out why I was stunned. I mean, you see attractive people everywhere. They're out and about, milling around other attractive people, doing their thing. But not once had I seen a person so heart achingly beautiful that my brain stopped working. I imagine this is what it felt like to be a man, panting after some skank who says things like "I guess my biggest problem is that I'm just _too _flexible". Yeah right. Most likely her biggest problem is figuring out which parolee is her baby daddy.

My eyes scanned the man in front of me. I moved from his rich, green eyes to the crooked smile that graced his mouth. His strong jaw was covered in a hint of stubble, from not shaving, that led to his neck. He was tall, over 6 feet tall for sure. As my eyes took in the length of his toned body they stopped on his unruly mess of auburn hair at the top of his head. My fingers itched to run through it and I actually had to clench my fist to stop myself.

The object who sent me spiraling into my stupor looked at my quizzically. I noticed that his hand was outstretched as if waiting for me to shake it. Were his lips moving?

_Oh God, his lips! _

They were full and pouty, arched into a perfect Cupid's bow. The bottom one was a bit fuller than the top one, perfect for nibbling. My heart started pumping in my chest and I had to keep reminding myself that mounting random strangers was _not _okay. He noticed my eyes locked on his mouth and his crooked smile shifted into a devious smirk.

_My gosh! What in the world is wrong with me? _

Apparently, I had reached the point where it was no longer acceptable to be staring unabashedly at someone, and was now bordering on being either creepy or mentally inept. I decided to reign in my hormones and attempt to play it cool.

"I'm sorry. I didn't catch that. What did you say?" I shook my head attempting to pull myself from my daze.

He chuckled softly at my display. "Oh nothing important. I was just introducing myself. I'm Edward." He extended his hand to me once again and I did the same.

"Bella," I responded casually. I pointed to where Alice and Rosalie where standing. "Shorty over there is Alice. And that's Rosalie." He smiled cordially at them and then shifted his attention back to me.

"Well, nice to meet you Bella. I see you've already met my oldest brother, Emmett." He gestured to Emmett, who was still standing by Rose. "I apologize in advance."

Alice looked confused. "For what?" she inquired of Edward.

"For Emmett," he said as if it were self-explanatory.

Emmett grabbed Edward in a headlock. "Now don't be hatin' on your big bro! You don't have to be jealous just cause I'm Mom's favorite." He razzed the hair on Edward's head.

Edward scoffed. "Mom's favorite? Please! If by favorite you mean source of shame for the whole Cullen family then yes, your Mom's favorite," he replied with a cheeky grin.

Emmett laughed and moved his arm so it was no longer locking Edward's head, but just resting on his shoulders. "You're right Eddie boy." Edward grimaced at the nickname and Emmett continued. "I have been the cause for the majority of Mom's gray hairs." Emmett beamed with pride at his statement. As if he had done his duty as a son by seriously stressing out his mom to the max.

_Boys._

Edward freed himself from his brother and walked over to me. "So Bella, what brings you here? Are you an archaeology major? Or is this," he gestured to the conference with his hands, "more of a hobby?"

"Um, I'm actually majoring in anthropological archaeology at Sacramento State. Me and my friends," I pointed at Alice and Rose who were now on the other side of the room with Emmett, "are actually looking for a dig we might be interested in over the summer. I hear you are as well?"

Edward nodded. "Yeah me, Emmett, and Jasper are trying to find something for the summer. We're actually here though because our dad's giving a lecture. Most likely we won't end up at any of the digs listed here. My dad gets calls from colleagues all the time about digs, so we'll probably end up doing that. More low key." He stated nonchalantly.

"That's got to be convenient. I mean, all these digs sound great but most don't fit into the time frame we're looking for, or are field schools. We don't want to listen to school lectures and earn units, we just want to be part of a dig team. Plus, it'll be hard for the three of us to go somewhere together." I was sort of jealous that he had the opportunity to get such great experience so easily while me, Alice, and Rose had to fight to find something that would work for us. Oh well, that's what happens when your father is a famous archaeologist.

"What's your number?" he asked suddenly while pulling out his phone.

I looked at him confused. "Huh?" I probably looked a little annoyed too. He didn't even bother _acting _like he was at least paying attention to what I was saying. I turned away from him annoyed and started walking back over to Alice and Rosalie.

_God, boys _**never **_listen once a girl opens her mouth to speak!_

"That's not true. My mom thinks I'm a great listener." His velvety voice said from behind me.

Oops! I must have mumbled that thought under my breath. "Oh really?"

He shot me that crooked smile. "Yes really. I was thinking that when my dad finds a dig that we might be interested in, I could contact you about joining us. So, what's your number? Or e-mail address, if you prefer." Ah, he actually was listening. He just had a "man" moment. That's what Alice, Rose, and I call them. Whenever you tell a man something that's on your mind they go into "must solve problem!" mode. As the words are coming out of your mouth, the man you are speaking to is already forming ways to resolve your issue so it's no longer a problem. Females will try and sort out the emotion you are trying to convey or ask prompting questions, but a man will just find a way to take care of the problem.

"Oh, um, yeah I guess I could give you my number then." Edward handed me his phone and I saved my number into his contacts.

"Thanks Edward. That's really thoughtful." I gave a bright smile that I hoped conveyed my gratitude as I handed him back his phone. As he took his phone from my hand he glanced at my face and I thought I heard his breath catch. I must be imagining things.

He cleared his throat and shook his head before making eye contact with me. "Your welcome Bella. Hopefully Carlisle will have something good for us soon. When he does, I'll let you know."

"Edward quit chattin' up the foxy lady and let's go! Jasper's meeting us outside!" I heard Emmett's voice bellow from across the room. Of course, this caused people to look around and a light blush to dawn my cheeks.

Edward too looked a little embarrassed, but mostly just irritated. "I'm coming Gigantor! Give me a second!" he bellowed back. Great, now people definitely knew who Emmett was yelling at.

Edward looked at me and grinned. "It was so nice meeting you Bella. Talk to you soon?" Gosh, his voice is just so smooth and seductive. And he isn't even saying sexy things! I'm sure he's just one of those people who could read the phonebook out loud and make it sound like erotic poetry. Damn this man for getting me flustered!

"Um, o-okay, y-yeah. Yes. Definitely talk to you soon." Really, how many times can I stutter over my words and say synonyms for 'yes' in one reply? Ugh, I seriously have _zero _game.

He shot me one last smile as he took off after Emmett. I tried to control my breathing as Alice and Rosalie joined me.

"Wow, struggle much Bella?" Rosalie shot at me through her giggles.

I groaned and hung my head in embarrassment. "I know, I know. But, God, did you _see _that guy? I seriously was about to surrender my 'V' card to him. And if he wouldn't willingly take it, then I'd chuck it at him!"

Alice snorted with her laughter. Then she got a calculating look on her face as if she was thinking something over, and then shook it off. "Well, he would have made a fine choice Bella!"

"And you know the rule, Bella…" Rose started while looking at me.

"Never bet against Alice!" we finished together. And honestly, it was true. Alice has always had this annoying habit of being right. Rose and I always joke about her being psychic, but Alice just laughs it off and says she has excellent intuition. Either way, when Alice gets an idea, feeling, or hunch- roll with it!

We decided we were done roaming the conference center for the day and went back up to the hotel room to rest before going out on the town later tonight.

"So, what did Studly McStudster and you talk about?" Rose asked as we were getting on to the elevator in our hotel.

"Studly McStudster? That sounds like a character from Bob the Builder." I couldn't help but laugh while I pictured a cartoon Studly McStudster teaching children the proper way to build the frame of a house.

"Don't change the subject Bella. Seriously, did you guys hit it off?"

"I guess so. Nothing romantic happened or anything," I sighed. "But he did offer to contact us to set us up with a dig site. I guess his dad gets people calling him about digs that they'd like him to be involved in all the time. So he said if he found anything he'd give me a call."

"That's great Bella!" Alice squeaked. Then she turned to Rosalie. "Didn't Emmett mention something like that to you?"

"Yeah he did," Rose replied while nodding her head. "He said Carlisle's been keeping an eye out for them for some cool archaeological sites and he'd keep us 'in the know' about it."

When we got to our hotel room I flopped onto the bed facedown. I was absolutely exhausted. This weekend had been a long weekend, but it was almost over. Hopefully Edward will call in the next few weeks about a dig site so I can stop stressing over finding something.

Have you ever had a moment where you felt like even though it wasn't a huge deal, you still felt like it was going to have a major impact on your life? Well that's the feeling that was building up in my stomach. I don't know how or why, but I do know that coming to this conference is about to change our lives. Whether it's the dig site we're going to end up at, or meeting Emmett and Edward, I have no clue. But I definitely feel like the next chapter in my life is about to start.

Just as I was dosing off I heard my phone vibrate. I drowsily reached for my phone and slid it open to read the text message. It was from an unknown number.

**Bella - Carlisle's old colleague contacted him about a dig site on a small island off the coast of Maine. Come play in the dirt with me? –Edward**

I reread the message a couple of times before I realized what it meant. Oh my gosh! We had a dig site! And not just any dig site. It's a dig site set up by _the _Carlisle Cullen, the best archaeologist of the 21st century.

I shot off the bed and squealed loudly. "Alice! Rose! Oh my God! We're going to Maine!"

Alice was sitting on the balcony attached to our room, reading a magazine. When she heard my voice she sprinted back inside. "What are you talking about Bella?"

I tossed my phone to her so she could read the message. She joined me in my squealing.

"What the heck are you guys doing?" Rose yelled while turning off the shower.

"Rose! Get your cute butt in here!" Alice yelled at the bathroom door.

Moments later the bathroom door opened, followed by a billow of steam. Rose came in wearing her sweats and her hair rapped up in a towel. "So what's with the girlish squeals?"

"Look!" Alice shoved my phone in Rose's face. Rosalie's eyes widened and a huge smile lit her face.

"We have a dig site?" she asked me excitedly.

"It would appear we do!"

The three of us did a little victory dance before I texted Edward back telling him we'd love to be a part of the dig. He said he'd call me later in the week with details and dates.

_Wow, I'm going be spending my summer excavating history with my friends. I'm actually going to be a _**part**_ of discovering history._

Then another thought hit me.

_I'm going to be spending my summer excavating history with my friends. On a small island. With Edward. _

I looked at Edward's first text again.

**Come play in the dirt with me?**

Oh, I'll play in the dirt with you, all right!

Yep, things were about to get interesting.

* * *

**A/N: Would you play in the dirt with Edward? **

**Review! **

**So, how would you feel about a little Edward point of view next chapter? hmm?**

**I ask again.... Epic Fail? **

**-rj**

* * *


	3. Waiting For June

**AN: This is Edward's point of view right after the boys left the girls in the conference center.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, or any of its characters.**

**EPOV**

Is it wrong that I want to shoot Emmett in the face right now? God, he's driving me crazy. If I have to hear about how that Rose was "smoking hot" one more damn time, I'm gonna set his collection of WWF wrestlers on fire. It may spark a war between his wrestling action figures and my GI Joes, but that's a risk I'm willing to take. After all, GI Joe_ is_ "A Real American Hero".

Perhaps the real reason I'm irritated is because when I met Bella, I felt like a 12-year-old girl meeting the Jonas brothers. I was completely unprepared for her. She was absolutely gorgeous. Her thick, mahogany hair flowed down past her shoulders, framing a heart-shaped face. Her chestnut eyes were framed with long curved lashes and lit up when she smiled. Even though she was no taller than 5'5, she carried a confidence that made her seem taller. When she smiled at me, my eyes were drawn to her full, pink lips stretched over a straight line of teeth. She was breathtaking.

Emmett always told me that if I pulled my head out of my schoolbooks and started paying attention to the chicks around me, then I was bound to find something I liked. The problem was, that never really happened. Sure, I saw pretty girls, but nothing ever sparked my interest enough to make me pursue them.

Growing up I watched my parents' relationship. My parents have been married for 25 years and they still enjoy being around one another. Dad calls Mom at least 4 times a day while he's at work or on the road. It's funny watching them because they absolutely adore one another, and they think the other one is hilarious, when in reality they are just equally lame. I also watched Emmett go from girlfriend to girlfriend and the drama that surrounded him, and I know that's not what I want.

I would prefer not to date someone until I knew that they were something special. I want to be able to look at her and not only think she's beautiful, but be proud of the woman she is. To see that she has a heart for people. To be able to laugh with her and completely be myself. To be able to watch football on Monday nights while folding the laundry together and still find something to joke about. I want for her to be my best friend. I don't want to waste my time on anything else. I was raised with an example of what a relationship could be and it set the bar high for me. I would rather be single the rest of my life then settle for something I don't want.

"Damn, that Rose was smokin' hot!" Ah, it appears Emmett has decided that enough time has passed and it's now appropriate to bring up Rosalie again. This has been going on all through lunch.

After I left Bella in the conference center, Emmett and I met Jasper outside so we could grab some eats. We were all starving after not having had anything to eat in over 3 hours. The restaurant Jasper chose was some teppanyaki place that served these amazing rice bowls. We've eaten there 4 times in the last two days.

"Her friends were pretty hot too. I didn't talk to Bella much, but Alice was a real spitfire," Emmett continued while shoveling teriyaki chicken into his mouth. "Our Eddie boy seemed quite taken with the little Bella though. Dude, you definitely need to jump on that."

"Jump on that, Emmett? I'm fairly certain she would not appreciate it if I jumped at her."

Emmett scoffed. "Well don't jump _at _her. That would be odd. Then you become 'that weird guy who jumped at me that one time'. Trust me, girls don't forget shiz like that."

I shot him an incredulous look. Sometimes Emmett makes absolutely no sense. "Whatever. Either way, it's not in good taste. Women want to be wooed."

Jasper laughed at out conversation before deciding to throw his two cents in. "I don't know, Edward. Nothing woos a woman like saying 'I wanna be on you'."

"That may work for Flo Rida, but I'm afraid that all that'd get me is a junk punch," I chuckled.

Jasper looked like he was trying to envision the scenario. "You're right. Bad idea."

The moment I realized we'd just quoted a popular song in front of Emmett, I groaned.

As a general rule, Jasper and I never reference any song title, lyric, or artist of rap or hip hop songs. For some reason, Emmett always, and I mean _always_, decides to dedicate a little "musical snack" to his "peeps". It's usually just me and Jasper who get shanghaied into listening to Emmett, but unfortunately for Kristie, our waitress, she got caught in the crossfire.

As Kristie approached our table to ask if we wanted any refills, Emmett sprung into action. He jumped up onto his feet with a really serious look on his face. He grabbed Kristie's right hand and stared deep into her eyes before he began to sing.

"I said excuse me little mama if I may,

Take this thought and send it your way,

And if you don't like that, then send it right back,

But I just gotta say…"

At this point Emmett let go of her hand and very dramatically placed his left hand over his heart and stretched his right hand out in front of him as if he was trying to grasp at air before making a fist. The worst part of his impromptu performance was the fact that he was bobbing his head and singing with his eyes closed. All of this was made considerably more bizarre by the fact that he was still dressed as Indiana Jones.

"I wanna be on you (on you), I wanna be on you (on you)

And if you don't like that, then send it right back

But I just gotta say, I just gotta say…"

Kristie looked totally confused by his actions, but was a good sport about it. Well, she was smiling at least. Which is more than I can say for Alicia, the Kohl's Customer Service employee who was _not _amused at Emmett's heartfelt rendition of 'Smack That'. She did _not _want to go to his place and just kick it like Tae Bo.

"Well, that was," she paused here trying to find the right word to say, "weird." Hmm, I guess weird works.

Emmett gasped as if her statement deeply wounded his pride. "Weird? I pour my soul out to you and all you can say is 'That was weird'? How can you say that?" Something outside caught Emmett's eye and he glanced out the window.

"Oh great," he huffed while throwing his hands up in the air. "Now, you've embarrassed me in front of Homeless Harry."

Kristie had a bemused look on her face as she followed Emmett's gaze to the homeless man sitting outside.

"Homeless Harry?" she asked uncomprehending.

Emmett sighed, "Yes, Homeless Harry. But that's not the point!" he finished impatiently. "I think a more appropriate word to describe my musical gift to you would be something more along the lines of amazing, or sexy, or the greatest thing ever!" He stared at her expectantly, assuming she would amend her previous statement.

"Hmm," she pondered. "Yeah, I'm gonna go with weird." And then she walked away.

"Chicks," Emmett scoffed while shaking his head.

Jasper and I cracked up at watching our older brother make an ass out of himself in front of strangers.

Emmett joined us in our laughter as he sat back down at the table.

"I guess some women just aren't fans of my spontaneous serenades," Emmett concluded.

"I think she was just shocked that some dude dressed as Indiana Jones broke into song without any warning," I said while trying to control my laughter.

"Yeah," Jasper agreed. "Maybe you should preface it next time with something like 'Yo girl. I'm fixanda get cho ears pregnant wiff words. Check it.' That would at least give her time to prepare herself."

I laughed at Jasper's comment, but Emmett looked like he'd just heard the best idea ever.

All of the sudden my phone rang.

"Hello," I answered into the Blackberry.

I heard the voice of my father on the other line. "Hey Edward. Are you guys still at the conference center?"

"No. We're actually at that teppanyaki place down the block. I'm glad you called though cause I wanted to ask you about any digs that may have come your way."

"Actually," my dad began, "I just ran into an old friend of mine who's a professor at Cornell. He just informed me about a dig this summer. It's on this little island called Smuttynose Island in the Isles of Shoals, a little patch of islands that are a part of Maine and New Hampshire."

"They looking for anything specific?" I asked while watching Jasper flick rice at Emmett while he was not paying attention. I decided to put my dad on speakerphone so all three of us could hear more about this dig site.

"They found some Native American artifacts and want proof that their inhabitance predated the European settlement in the 1600's. It'd be from mid June till mid August. He said he wanted 5-7 students only. Is that something you might want to do?"

I looked at Emmett and Jasper who glanced at each other first before nodding. I know I was definitely intrigued. "Yeah, Dad. That sounds perfect actually." I took him off speakerphone so that I could hear him a little better.

"Well do you know anyone else who might be interested? Or can I offer the remaining spots to some of my students?"

A wide grin spread across my face. Oh, I knew _just _who to ask.

"Actually Emmett and I met 3 archaeology students from Sac State while wandering the convention center. I'm sure they'd be all over this."

"Alright, well keep me posted. I'll have Seeley send me all the dig specifics and I'll forward it to you."

"Thanks Dad. Were we supposed to meet up for dinner later?"

"Yeah, Tahoe Joe's at 7. Remind your brothers."

"Will do."

We ended our call and I couldn't get the massive smile off my face. I noticed that Emmett had one as well.

Jasper looked back and forth between our two smiles. "What's with the goofy grins?"

"Other than the fact that Eddie boy just hooked us up with three hot chicks who are gonna spend their summer with us?" Emmett said with a wicked smile.

"Don't get ahead of yourself Emmett. The girls haven't agreed to go yet. This may not even be something they're interested in." I tried to sound casual and play down my growing excitement over the situation.

"Well," Jasper began, "find out if it's something their interested in. You got a number, right?"

"Yeah, Bella gave me her number before we left." I looked at Emmett. "Do you think it's too early to text her? I mean it's only been like an hour and a half since we saw her last and talked about digs."

Emmett shook his head. "No way man. Do it now. Rose mentioned that they were wanting to find something as soon as possible, so this will probably be a huge relief for her."

"You're probably right," I agreed. I pulled out my Blackberry and shot a text to Bella telling her about the site.

"So, tell me about this third girl. What did you say her name was? Alice?" Jasper asked Emmett and I.

"I actually didn't talk to Alice much. She was on the other side of the room with her friend Rose while I was talking to Bella. She's cute though," I said with a half shrug.

"Yeah, I talked to her for a few minutes," Emmett responded. "She seemed pretty cool. She was pretty sassy. And you know how I love the sass."

"Hmm," Jasper said with a little half smile.

While we were paying our check for lunch my phone vibrated. I had a new message.

**Edward – We'd love to be a part of the dig! I'll bring my shovel :) – Bella**

My cheeks started hurting because of the massive grin on my face.

"The girls are in."

Emmett let out a little "whoop" that caused some people to look at us. I sent Bella another text just giving a basic time frame of the dig. I would need to call her later when I got more information from my dad.

After lunch, the three of us decided to check out the Winchester Mystery House before meeting our parents for dinner. That house is one of the craziest things I've seen. Sarah Winchester was heir to the Winchester repeating rifle fortune, and she was convinced that the spirits of all those killed with that gun were haunting her. To confuse the restless spirits, she constructed one of the oddest houses ever built and kept constructing it until the day of her death.

We kept getting lost, but it really wasn't our fault. That place is a labyrinth. There's a door on the second floor that opens onto thin air—others that open onto walls, and stairs and corridors that lead to dead ends. When we came across the room that Sarah Winchester used to try and converse with the spirits, Emmett and Jasper started speaking under their breath to scare the other people around us. Eventually we were asked to leave.

It was just as well. The only thing I could focus on was how excited I was for June to come around.

* * *

**A/N: A little glimpse into the mind of Edward. If you want to listen to the song Emmett sang to the waitress go to this link. Remember to replace the (dot)'s with periods…**

http://www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=gU-pOk1svUg

**Review and let me know what you think :)**

**Epic Fail? or no?**

**-rj**


	4. Return of McStudster

**AN - Sorry for the delay... Hopefully you'll enjoy this chapter. The six are coming together for the first time! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, or any of its characters.**

BPOV

"Bella! Where is my new green shirt that I bought from Anthropologie?" Rose bellowed from her room. The last hour has been quite chaotic. We've been trying to get our apartment ready for our guests. So basically the last hour has been filled with alternating irritated, stressed out comments while frantically getting everything perfect, and girlish squeals when we focus on them coming to stay with us.

I started unloading the first plate from the dishwasher while I yelled back to her. "It's still in the bag in your closet, Rose!"

I heard her rustling around in the closet before I heard her response. "Found it! Thanks Bells!"

For the last few months, ever since we got back from the conference in San Jose, we've been counting down the days to when we leave for the dig. That countdown is winding down with only 2 days left on the clock. Edward and I have kept in contact as well. Occasionally he calls me, but most of the time we just text each other, or send Facebook messages. Gotta love technology. You can build a whole friendship with someone and never have to actually physically speak to them. And unfortunately, that's _all _Edward and I have, a friendship. It's not like I was expecting some grand whirlwind romance, I mean after all, we _did _only talk in person for a few minutes.

_Best minutes of your life, Bella._

Ugh, now that's a sad thought. How can one guy that I barely know make me so pathetic? How is it that me, a girl who hasn't dated much and made fun of women who got all blissed out on a guy, now sees a family out to dinner and automatically pictures my little bronze-haired, green-eyed babies? The first time it happened I was sort of flabbergasted. I immediately called Alice and told her about my quintessential "chick" moment. She, of course, squealed and wanted me to gush about how dreamy Edward is. I shot that crap down real quick. Now every time I drift off into "Edward and Bella's Happy Land" I force myself to avert my thoughts and focus on what has to be done. It's how I was able to finish up my last semester of school. Now Alice, Rose, and I are all official graduates from the California State University of Sacramento.

And thank God for that! We were driving each other crazy these past couple months. All 3 of us were stressed with trying to finish everything up for school and making sure we have everything squared away for the dig. You know the girls are stressed when Rose leaves the house in baggy sweats, and no makeup on. She normally hates it when she blends in with other students. As for Alice, one morning I caught her leaving in her old boyfriend's shirt. It has a picture of two stick figures roasting hotdogs over a fire and one of the guys' hotdogs fell off his roasting stick into the flames while his buddy looks on laughing at his friend's scowling face. The caption reads: _It's All Fun And Games Till Someone Loses A Weiner_. Yeah, so _not _an Alice shirt, but she wears it when she's not too concerned with how she looks and wants a good laugh.

When Alice and Rosalie were done getting themselves all pretty, they decided to join me in the kitchen to help put the dishes away. Alice came bouncing in with her Ipod and put it on the docking station in the kitchen so we could listen to some music.

"Ladies," Alice began, "I think we need some mood music to prepare ourselves for the three fine gentlemen that will be here any minute." She began flipping through her playlists and settled on a random mix we had made for when we drove to Lake Tahoe.

Now, Alice hadn't really talked to either of the Cullen brothers at the conference, but she's definitely gotten to know them now. Rose and I would gush about Emmett and Edward to Alice, telling her every little detail of each conversation we'd had with them whether it be a phone call or a Facebook message. One night when Rose was on the phone with Emmett, Alice decided that she wanted to communicate directly with the guys. She grabbed the phone out of Rose's hand and said, "What's going on Big E?" Ever since then, Alice has weaseled her way in to the hearts of Emmett and Edward. We still haven't met their brother, Jasper, but I've talked to him online a few times. He seems like a pretty funny guy. Alice saw his picture on Facebook and called 'dibs' on him, which is perfectly fine with me and Rose since we all have our favorites amongst the boys.

"Okay, the next song that comes on is what Emmett is thinking about right now," Alice said while wiping off the kitchen counter. You see, the three of us have a little game that we play when we put on a random mix of music. We ask a question and then the next song is the 'answer' to that question. It's kind of like a musical fortune game.

As soon as we heard the intro to the song we burst into laughter.

"**I'm gonna be a mighty king so enemies beware…**

Well I've never seen a king or beast with quite so little hair…

**I'm gonna be the main event like no king was before**

**I'm brushing up I'm looking down, I'm working on my roar…**

Well, thus far a rather uninspiring thing…

**Oh I just can't wait to be king!"**

"Oh man, you gotta love The Lion King. What's funny is I can totally see Emmett rocking out to that song. The musical fortune game knows what it's doing," I laughed.

"Apparently Emmett is planning on being a member of the monarch in the foreseeable future," Rosalie chuckled. The three of us couldn't stop laughing. I think we're all just so excited to be seeing the boys soon. Since the guys live in Washington, they thought they would drive here to Sacramento and then all six of us could fly from the Sacramento airport to Maine for the dig. So that leaves the six of us here, in our apartment off campus, for two days before we make the trip together.

"Okay, someone think of a question for the next song," I said before the song changed.

Rose got contemplative for a second before she spoke. "If Hayden, Jensen, and Gerard were to play a song for us to show us their true feelings, the next song is what it would be."

Ah, Hayden, Jensen and Gerard- our true loves. Alice, Rose, and I have this deal. You see, in my mind I have a passionate love affair with Hayden Christiansen, while Alice loves Jensen Ackles, and Rose wants a piece of Gerard Butler. We have this deal that if one of us lands our dream man then we have to loan him out to the other two for the occasional make out.

The next thing I heard was the sound of a beautiful violin coming from the speakers of the Ipod docking station. When I recognized the song, I looked at Alice and Rose with a giant grin.

Alice got a dreamy look on her face. "I can just imagine Jensen singing this to me," she said as the first verse began.

"When I am down and oh my soul so weary

When troubles come and my heart burdened be

Then I am still and wait here in the silence

Until you come and sit awhile with me

You raise me up so I can stand on mountains

You raise me up to walk on stormy seas

I am strong when I am on your shoulders

You raise me up to more than I can be"

After the first verse and chorus there's an instrumental break featuring the violin. "Oh! Here comes Hayden's big violin solo, which he will use to prove his unyielding love," I said while giggling. When the chorus came back around, we sang at the top of our lungs.

However Rose stopped singing and a little pout formed on her lips. "Well, where is Gerard while Jensen's singing and Hayden is rockin' his little violin?"

"Hmm," I began, "oh, I know! He can be the pianist! Butler would look hot tickling the ivories." Right when I said that, the music swelled and got really intense. So the three of us grabbed spoons and spatulas and belted it out as loud as we could.

Rose was focusing intently on the piano playing in the background. "Aww yeah! Bring it Butler!" she shouted over the music. We started laughing so hard while picturing these three guys passionately proclaiming their love to You Raise Me Up. We decided to rename the playlist, calling it the Bring It Butler mix.

We finished cleaning up the kitchen, so I decided to do a final sweep of the apartment to make sure nothing embarrassing was out. It would be just my luck that I dropped a pair of underwear while carrying it to the basket in the laundry room. Fortunately, everything was in order and the only thing left to do was wait for the guys to get here. I sat down on the couch and turned on the TV. Flipping through the channels, I decided to stop on a rerun of Bones. Alice and Rose joined me in drooling over Agent Seeley Booth before we heard a car door shut. We looked at each other and Alice let out a little squeal. Alice and Rose went to do a last minute makeup check while I waited for them to come to the door.

I heard the sound of male laughter getting closer before there was a polite knock on the door, followed by a loud pounding accompanied by Emmett's shouted "Helloooo!" As I got closer I heard what sounded like someone getting smacked in the arm and then Emmett's voice again. "What the heck Jasper?!" I opened the door to see Emmett standing there rubbing his shoulder and glaring at a very attractive man who was donning a shirt that said 'Drop a lode of nowlidge like a $$$$ shot'.

He too was tall, but not as tall as Emmett or Edward. His wavy, blonde lockes were messy and a few strands hung in his deep blue eyes. He had a lean, yet muscular build that just oozed relaxation. The whole left side of his body was propped up against the wall outside while he grinned as he watched Emmett rubbing his arm. He was definitely attractive, but I couldn't see a family resemblance with either Emmett or Edward.

Emmett's gaze left the blonde and he turned to see who opened the door. "Bellie boo!" he shouted as he gathered me in a crushing hug. He looked down at me and shot me a cocky grin. "Miss me?"

I laughed and pulled myself from his embrace. "Good to see you too, Em." I turned to the man leaning up against the wall. "You must be Jasper?" He smiled and nodded. I extended my hand for a handshake and introduced myself. "It's nice to finally meet you. I'm Bella." He looked at my hand and scoffed. "No way. If Emmett gets to hug the lovely lady then so do I," Jasper said while pulling me into a hug. I blushed at this, but quickly brushed it off.

"Well, come on in guys. Make yourself at home," I said while opening the door wider and motioning them to come in. I looked around but didn't see a certain third brother. Studly McStudster's abscense did not go unnoticed.

"So, um, where's Edward?" I asked as nonchallantly as I could manage.

Emmett didn't look up from his phone as he answered me. "Oh he's out in the Jeep still. He was on the phone with his lover."

_Lover?! NO!_

I tried to keep my face composed as I processed this information, but really I felt like I had been punched in the gut. I felt my face heating up again from my own embarassment at thinking that Edward had some other intentions besides being my friend. I took a couple of deep breaths and tried to calm my heart rate.

_You know what? Screw him! If he doesn't see what he's missing then he's obviously an idiot. I'm not wasting any more good fantasies on Edward Cullen._

I squared my shoulders and shook my head with a resounding nod, as if I was preparing myself to fight.

Jasper took in my odd facial expressions and raised an eyebrow. "You alright there, Bella?"

"Oh yeah, I'm perfectly fine," I waved off his concern. "Here, let me show you where you can put your stuff." Although, I noticed that they each only had what looked like a lap top bag. I walked them into the living room where the air mattresses were.

"Sorry, we don't actually have a room for you but two of you can sleep on the air mattresses and the other can take the couch. If you wanna keep your bags in my room, you can. I've got plenty of room." I have my own room at the apartment, while Rose and Alice share the master bedroom.

Emmett flopped onto one of the mattresses and let out a deep sigh. "No need for apologies. This works out great Bellie boo!"

I heard the door from the bathroom open and Rose and Alice came bounding out. Rose saw Emmett on the mattress and pounced on him.

"Rosie!" Emmett yelled enthusiastically before he started tickling her. Jasper and I started chuckling at their antics before I realized I should probably introduce Jasper and Alice.

"Oh, Jasper this is my friend Alice. Alice, this is Emmett and Edward's brother Jasper." Jasper turned around to greet Alice and froze. I mean, his entire body held completely still and he stopped breathing. Alice wasn't much better. Her mouth dropped open before she said, "Oh. My. God." Her voice must have pulled him out of his stupor, because Jasper shook his head as if to clear it and asked, "Are you alright?"

Alice quickly shut her mouth and looked at me. "Crap. Did I say that out loud?" she muttered. I just laughed at her and pushed her forward to shake Jasper's hand.

"It's nice to meet you Jasper," she said sweetly while grasping his hand.

He just smiled at her for a moment before responding. "Likewise."

I turned around as I heard a loud thud up against the front door. I opened it to see Edward weighed down by tons of luggage. He had the bags stacked so high in his arms that I could only make out that it was him by the bronze hair sticking up over the top. I covered my face to stifle my laughter.

"Uh, come on in Edward," I said while standing back and holding the door open for him. His head peeked out from the side and I caught the first glimpse of his gorgeous that I've had in months. His face broke in to a wide grin. "Bella!" he greeted from behind the tower of bags. He moved into the apartment and began tossing off the bags before picking me up and twirling me around. I couldn't help but laugh with him and try to forget about the fact that he was not romantically interested, or available for that matter.

Edward set me back down and looked me over before speaking. "God, Bella. You look even more beautiful then the last time I saw you." And…. cue blush.

I laughed somewhat awkwardly before replying. "You don't look too bad there yourself, McStudster." He smiled at the nickname. During one of Edward's phone calls to me about details on the dig site, Rosalie insisted on talking to him and greeted him as Studly McStudster. Edward laughed at the greeting, and so we just decided to keep it up, even in front of him.

"Here, bring your bags into my room. You guys will be sleeping in the living room, but there's no room for all your stuff in there." I looked around at the number of bags that he'd carried in and looked at him questioningly. "How did you get stuck with bringing in all the bags?"

"Because that what happens when you're the little bro!" I heard Emmett yell from Alice and Rose's room , where he and Jasper were getting a tour.

"Is that true?" I asked Edward.

He just nodded his head and laughed. "Pretty much," he replied. "It was worse when we were kids though. I remember Emmett used to do stuff like promise to play basketball with me for ten minutes if I cleaned his room for him."

"Really? That's so sad," I said while carrying some of the bags to my room.

"Yeah, he actually never followed through with his end of the bargain though. He owes me like three hours of basketball still," Edward chuckled. "But, no worries Bella. I found creative ways to rebel against him."

I took in his mischievious smile before responding. "I have no doubt of that."

The six of us settled into the living room to play a little Rock Band before Alice, Rose, and I got up to make dinner. We decided on making spaghetti, garlic bread, and salad since it's quick and easy. Rose was slicing the bread and getting it ready to put in the oven while Alice and I were trying to get the marinara sauce perfect.

"Add a little more garlic, Bella," Alice said while stirring the noodles. I grabbed the small container of garlic seasoning and flipped the top up to sprinkle some more in. However, when I tipped the container to sprinkle it in, the top totally fell off and the entire contents of garlic fell into the sauce.

"Oh crap!" I yelled while trying to dig the lid, that had just fallen in, out of the sauce pan.

Alice glanced at the pan and burst into laughter. "Bella! What did you do?" I looked at Alice and then at the copious amount of garlic in our spaghetti sauce and then back at Alice. We both released loud guffaws and I had to hide my face in the crook of my arm to stifle the sound.

Rose came over to see what was going on and joined in the laughter. We tried to dig out as much garlic as we could, but there was just too much.

I sighed before yelling towards the boys, who were still playing Rock Band, "Well, I hope you boys are fans of garlic!"

Luckily, we had another can of plain spaghetti sauce to add in, so it actually didn't turn out _too _strong. It's a good thing everyone was a garlic lover. I heard the the boys turn off the video game in the other room before Edward came into the kitchen.

"How can I help you Chef Bella?" he asked sincerely.

"Um, actually if you could grab the salad dressings from out of the fridge and put them on the table, that'd be great."

"Sure thing," Edward responded and walked over to the fridge. I heard him rummaging around for a while before he spoke again. "Jeez, why are there like twelve different dressings in here?"

I watched as he pulled out dressing after dressing from the fridge. "Oh, yeah. Alice has this thing about the expiration dates on the dressing. She thinks it's all a lie. But Rose and I refuse to use expired products, so we end up accumulating mass amounts."

Edward looked down at the multiple sets of Ranch dressing in his arms and then laughed. "Seems like Alice," he said before putting them all on the table.

Dinner was fun. We got to know each other better and laughed at all the random thoughts that Emmett found necessary to voice.

After clearing the table, Rose pulled out a blue box from the closet. "Hey, we should play Loaded Questions!"

"What's Loaded Questions?" Jasper asked while grabbing another Wild Cherry Pepsi from the fridge.

"It's a board game. It's pretty fun," she replied while setting it up in the living room. Alice got the pens and paper while I explained how to play to the guys.

"So basically you draw a card on your turn which has a question on it. For example, it might ask you 'If you could meet any one person from history, who would it be?' or something like 'What is your favorite body part and why?'. You read the question aloud and everyone has to write down their answers. You're job is to guess who said what."

"Oh! Sounds fun!" Emmett stated excitedly. The floor of the living room was covered with air mattresses, so we all piled on top of them with the board game in the center. When Edward plopped down next to me I sort of tumbled on to his lap. I immediately blushed and tried to get off of him, trying to ignore how good it felt to be so close to him. When I scrambled off his lap, I landed next to him, but because we were on an air mattress, our weight still caused it to dip so the entire sides of our bodies were smashed up against each other. "Gosh, I'm so sorry Edward! I promise I'm not trying to cop a feel," I joked to try and lessen my awkwardness. Edward just laughed, but then grabbed my wrist when I tried to move farther away. He leaned down to my ear, and I could feel his hot breath on my neck. My breathing started to become more erratic and a shiver ran through my body.

"I really wish that you wouldn't do that," he whispered before glancing down at the wrist he was holding which was trying to push away from him.

"O-oh, um, y-yeah, okay. I guess I'll just stay here then," I stuttered out. Edward just looked into my eyes and gave me a crooked smile before he faced the group again.

"Alright," Edward started casually, "who goes first?" And that began the game. We had been playing for about a half an hour before Rosalie read a card asking what our favorite superheroes were. We all wrote down out answers and handed them to Alice, who was reading the answers out loud so Rose could guess who said what.

"Okay," Alice began, "we have Spiderman." She then went to the next paper. "Wonder Woman," which was my answer, "Catwoman," then flipped to the next answer, "The Flash," and then she got to the last paper and started laughing before she read it. "And the last one says 'Clockman- Prepare to tell time!'"

We all started laughing at that, while Rose tried to guess who said what. Spiderman was Alice's answer, Edward said The Flash, Emmett said Catwoman because she 'looks fine in leather', and Jasper was the one to bust out the fictional Clockman. Needless to say, he instantly became our new favorite superhero.

Oddly enough, Jasper ended up winning the game, which is ironic considering he was at the biggest disadvantage having never physically talked to me, Alice, or Rose before tonight. As I was reaching to put the game back into the closet I felt, rather than heard, Edward approach. Whenever he gets near me, my body feels all tingly and like I want to start jumping up and down in giddyness or tackle him onto the couch. Fortunately, I've been able to control those particular urges.

I turned around to see Edward leaning back against the wall with his arms crossed in front of his chest, looking totally at ease. He just smiled at me for a minute before he spoke. "Wanna take a walk with me? I noticed the walking trails around the complex when we drove in," he asked without moving from his position.

"Sure, let me just grab some shoes," I responded before I went to grab my Air Jordans. We walked out into the comfortable night air and began walking.

"Wow. What a beautiful night," Edward breathed when he looked up at the night sky. The stars were shining brilliantly and were casting a soft glow around us. As we made our way through the trails we stopped at a small walking bridge with a stream of water flowing underneath. We both paused and looked out onto the water. It was so quiet, so still. Almost like the world had hit the pause button just for us. The only sounds I could hear were the trickling of water beneath my feet and the soft breathing from the man standing next to me.

"So, how are you feeling about the dig? Excited? Nervous?" Edward asked me after a few minutes if silence.

I looked up at him and met his gaze, noticing how the moonlight made him even more handsome. "I guess I'm both. I mean, I've been looking forward to this for months, but a part of me is still a little nervous about everything. I know we'll have fun and that it's a great opportunity though," I said while shrugging my shoulders.

We talked a while longer before making our way back to the apartment. As we walked in, I noticed that Alice and Rose were already in bed and Emmett and Jasper were flopped out onto their air mattresses slightly snoring. When I glanced up at the clock I saw that is was 3:18 a.m.

Wow. Did we really talk for over three hours?

"Jeez, we were out there for three hours? It felt like an hour, tops," Edward whispered when we got inside, vocalizing my thoughts.

"I guess we were," I replied lamely.

We said goodnight and went our separate ways. As I laid in my bed that night, I couldn't help but get excited thinking about how we would be leaving soon to spend our summer on an abandoned island. The problem was that I was also wildly distracted by Edward.

_How am I supposed to spend a whole summer with someone I am insanely attracted to and _**not **_make a fool of myself?_

_That_ is the million dollar question.

* * *

**AN: Alrighty, the six have finally met! Next chapter they'll head off to Maine, to begin their adventure on Smuttynose Island.**

**Let me know what you think... :)  
**

**Epic fail?... or no?**

**Review please!**

**-rj**


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